‘Complete joke’: Sainz rages at Zandvoort penalty after Lawson clash
Carlos Sainz left Zandvoort furious after a 10-second penalty for tangling with Liam Lawson at Turn 1 — a decision he labelled “the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life” as a promising Dutch Grand Prix unraveled for the Williams driver.
The flashpoint came at the restart after a mid-race Safety Car. Sainz rolled the dice around the outside into Tarzan, aiming to hang Lawson out just enough to set up a switch for Turns 2 and 3. Instead, the pair rubbed wheels on exit, both picked up punctures, and limped back to the lane — a slow crawl that took them a lap down and torched Sainz’s afternoon.
The stewards didn’t take long. Their verdict: Sainz was “wholly or predominantly to blame,” noting the No. 55 Williams wasn’t ahead at the apex and that Lawson — car 30 — “had the right to the corner.” Ten seconds added, and a Williams on the wrong end of a 50/50.
Sainz was livid on the radio and no calmer later on. “The incident is quite clear,” he said afterwards. “Turn 1 here lets two cars race without contact. We’ve seen it. But with Liam, it always feels difficult. He seems to prefer a bit of contact and risking a puncture or a DNF rather than accept two cars side-by-side.”
He pushed back against the idea he’d tried to complete the pass around the outside at Turn 1. “I wasn’t even trying to race him that hard. I had a gap and wanted to get him off-line for Turn 2 and Turn 3. Then suddenly, contact — completely off-guard,” Sainz said. “You need to pick your battles. Maybe with more experience he’ll realise he’s putting a lot of points on the line for something unnecessary. But to then get a 10-second penalty for it? Complete joke.”
Lawson had been running solidly in the points before the clash. Both he and Sainz were granted their lap back under a later Safety Car, but the damage — in pace, tyres, and track position — was done. On a day Oscar Piastri won and Lando Norris retired, with Ferrari copping a double DNF to boot, Sainz believed he’d left at least a top-five on the table.
“Story of my season,” he grimaced. “Another race I could have finished P5, where Alex [Albon] is — that’s 10 points gone for something I can’t understand.”
The stewarding logic at Zandvoort’s Turn 1 is nothing new: if you’re not sufficiently alongside at the apex, the car on the racing line effectively owns the corner on exit. Drivers know it, argue about it, and occasionally test the margin anyway. Sainz felt the door was open enough to squeeze Lawson into a compromised line. Lawson defended towards the exit kerb. The contact that followed will split opinion in the briefing room, but the officials were consistent with recent calls.
There’s a second thread here too. Sainz clearly feels there’s a pattern when racing Lawson — that the Kiwi’s elbows-out style tips over the line in wheel-to-wheel. That’s not a new complaint in a field packed with drivers who all think someone else is “the hard racer.” But it will make the next time these two meet just a little spicier.
For Williams, it was a bittersweet Sunday: pace to score, the execution on one car, the frustration on the other. For Sainz, it’s another painful swing in a season that’s offered flashes and gut punches in equal measure.
The only certainty? This one will be re-litigated in Thursday’s drivers’ briefing, frame-by-frame. And next time into Tarzan after a restart, nobody’s giving an inch.
